The Blessing Called Family
by MasterFaster
Summary: Oneshot. What happens when SAO takes thirty-odd years to complete, but midway though Asuna and Kirito get the chance to have a child? Warning: Sad Ending. Don't read if you only like happy endings.


"Good morning Kirito."

"Good morning my love."

"You know what today is, right?"

"Of course! Our tenth anniversary!"

"C'mon. I have an idea of a place to go!"

* * *

_Later, on Floor 47_

"Wow. I can't believe that ten years ago we got married on this very spot."

"My thoughts exactly." They sat in silence for a few minutes.

Suddenly, a menu window popped up unbidden before the couple. "If you had a chance, would you two want a child?" There was also yes and no buttons. The pair looked at each other. Asuna hit the yes button. A minute passed. "Well lucky you! Argus Corp. has been pioneering artificial human development, so if you two volunteer, your Deoxyribonuclic Acid would be randomly crossed, your child would develop in vitro, and would be connected into Sword Art Online. Please sign below to accept, or dismiss this window if not."

"Hey Kirito, I know you are a nerd. So could you please translate that nerdlish to Japanese?"

"Is that an insult or a complement? Anyway, we would have a child but your real body wouldn't be pregnant. A test-tube baby, in other words. What do you think? It's your decision. I'll go with what you say."

"Hmm. Let's do it."

They both sign the window. A new one pops up in front of Asuna. "You are now pregnant. (In game, that is)"

"Well it's done. We should head home and start preparing the nursery."

* * *

_In the Real World a little while before, at the single hospital established for all SAO victims_

On this particular day, both the Yuuki family and the Kirigaya family were visiting the hospital. When they came to the front desk, they both were told that a man had asked if they came in to meet them in one of the hospital meeting rooms. When they arrived, somehow at the same time, they saw a man. He asked them to sit down at the table.

He asked them all a question. "Would you like to have a grandchild?"

"Who are you, and what are you talking about?"

"I am a employee at Argus Corp., producer of SAO. We recently also bought a company working in in vitro human development. But enough about me. You four should get used to each other. Kirigaya family, meet the Yuuki family. Yuuki family, meet the Kirigaya family."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Somehow, the man had turned on a projector pointing at the back wall without anybody noticing, and he showed two mid-twenty year olds. He pointed at the pictures. "Do these two look familiar?"

It was, of course, Kazuto and Asuna, dressed in their respective SAO usual outfits. "It's Kazuto, and the Yuuki child, I'm guessing."

"Asuna. But what does this have to do with anything?"

"I could tell you, but they would tell you better so..." He spoke to his computer. "Initiate Kirito-Asuna montage."

A series of clips of the two in SAO throughout the last twelve years showed. "If you couldn't tell, they are married in-game and planning to marry here once they are free. We'd let them free, but no-one can do that but Kayaba, and he trapped himself in the game. But we can interfere in tiny ways, like adding a player, or sending an in-game message. We can also glean information from the servers, like these clips and people's DNA. With the tech we have and the tech we bought, we could let the players have children. Now these two are one of very few couples in SAO, and probably the only ones who would accept.

"Now we would be perfectly fine with just asking them, and if they accept, going through, but the executives don't want to pay the hospital bills."

"Wait. Did you say plural bills?"

"Yes. Ten years ago, about a week into their marriage, they found a child in the forest. The child had no memories. Her name was Yui. The couple adopted her. It turned out, she was an AI that had escaped control of the system. She was nearly deleted when the system found her, but Kazuto was able to save her personality. If you pay the hospital bill, we will create a body for her here, and she will join SAO with her parents. By the way, SAO will not be a death game for the children, if they die in the game they will not die out here, but they will not be able to log out."

"Hmm. Could you ask them if they want a child before we agree?"

"Of course. One second. And load live stream. Input message. 'If you two had a chance, would you want a child?' Get answer."

The computer chirped. "Positive."

"There's your answer."

The two families looked at each other for a split second before they said, "Then definitely."

* * *

Nine months passed in Aincrad. Then, one day, Asuna was relaxing at home. Suddenly, a message popped up. "Child Entering Aincrad: child of Asuna and Kirito. Gender: Male. Please enter name below."

"Kirito! Get in here! Our child is entering Aincrad!"

He rushed in, just as crystals appeared out of nowhere and focused together to make a tiny infant boy. The couple had selected the name for the child beforehand. Isao. Asuna entered the name, then picked up the child. He had deep orange hair like his mother's, but deep black eyes like his father. They knew he was truly family immediately.

Asuna picked up her infant son and walked over to the couch, sitting down next to her husband. Kirito put his arm around her. For the first time since losing Yui, the cabin on floor 23 felt like a home.

* * *

A few hours later, the family heard a knock at the door. Kirito went to go answer it. He came back into the room with an incredibly familiar child by his side and a incredibly large smile on his face. Yui. She immediately ran up to Asuna and gave her a big hug. "Mommy!"

Asuna's eyes teared up. "Yui! How did you get here?"

"Remember the people who helped Otouto be born? They also created me a body, but it's currently very little, so I am going to stay like this until my body gets to my real age."

"Wow! In the meantime, meet your little brother."

"Hi Otouto! I'm Oneechan!"

* * *

The years passed in the floating castle of Aincrad. The two children grew and grew. One day, they were sparring together. Yui's fighting style was much like her father's; she preferred slashing weapons. Her reaction time is only second to Kirito's. On the other hand, Isao's was much like his mother's. His first birthday gift from Lisbeth was a miniature, non-sharpened Lambiant Light after she saw his speed. Asuna had a word or two to say to the blacksmith the next day.

Kirito and Asuna were sitting on the porch, looking out over the lakes and their children sparring. "We have quite a special family, Asuna."

"We do. But we have the best family." After Isao was born in SAO, Argus opened up having children to any couple that had someone outside paying the bills. Even that limit vanished once a foundation was set up to pay for all the new children's bills. By now, more of the people who only knew Aincrad were fighting on the front lines than those who remember Earth. But Black and White still led the Assault Team. Their children had adopted colors too, being the children of such iconic people. Isao took an orange the color of his hair and Yui a purple. As a family, they really stood out.

Suddenly Kirito got a message from one of the Assault Team members. "We have cleared the final dungeon up to the boss room. We are waiting on your family."

"Asuna. It's time." After so many years, they knew each other perfectly. He says such a tiny bit and Asuna knew it all.

* * *

"I have one thing to say to you. On the first floor, the leader of the very first Assault Team, Diabel, said this. Let's win!"

The team ran inside the room and began to fight the boss. After a few minutes, the boss launched an attack on Kirito and Asuna, knowing their age. After barely fending off a couple of attacks, the pair was about to be skewered by the boss's blade. Suddenly, Yui leaped up and just barely knocked the blade away. At that moment, Isao ran over. They put their five blades together to fend off the boss's next attack, then leapt at it. At once, they all plunged their blades into its skull. The boss died. But Asuna and Kirito also lost their heads. But the four held each other tight as the whole world descended into chaos.

* * *

Isao got up with an unfamiliar item on his head. He took out off and looked at it. He realized this was the NerveGear his parents had told him of. He saw a button next to his bed saying "Push to request nurse." He pushed it, and a woman came running in.

"You're awake! Hold on, I'll call your parents. Oh, your sheet says to call grandparents. Okay... Hello Mr. Kirigaya. This is the SAO Victim Hospital. Your grandson has awoken."

In what seemed like seconds a man came running through the door. "Hello there. You're Isao, right? I'm your grandfather. C'mon, let's go find your sister and parents."

* * *

A very similar scene happened to Yui, except she met her mom's mom. The two groups met in the hallway. "Oneechan!"

"Otouto! Let's go find mommy and daddy."

When they arrived at their joint room, they heard a flatlining sound. A simple beep. They looked at each other with worry. They went in, and saw two people holding their hands. Cold, lifeless hands. Their eyes look out onto their children without really seeing them.

The two children burst into tears. But then they heard a two familiar voices coming from nowhere in particular. "We're still with you. We're family forever."

* * *

**That was a hard ending to write. Did I do it well? By the way, this is AU for everything past Yui's Heart. And for the fact that they could walk around easily after awakening, the hospital had the tech to keep their muscles in shape and keep them alive for essentially the length of a normal human life, except for the things the NerveGear would do. Also, the children were locked into SAO the same way the original 10000 were, except that I'd they died in-game, they wouldn't die IRL. **

**EDIT: I changed this from Kazuto and Asuna vanishing (who knows why I wrote that) to them just being dead. Cheery, right?**


End file.
